About 2.5 years ago, I opened my Etsy shop thinking that if I made good designs, optimized the listings and kept working, sales would eventually come.

That… didn’t really happen.

After 2.5 years, I’m still struggling to get consistent traffic and sales, and I’ve started looking at my shop much more critically.

So instead of pretending I know what I’m doing, I’d like to show it to people who actually understand Etsy and ask for honest feedback.

My shop: https://r2bal.etsy.com

Here are the problems I believe I have:

1. My SEO is probably weak.

My titles, tags and descriptions clearly haven’t done enough to get my listings in front of the right people.

I’ve tried improving keywords, but I’m obviously missing something because the traffic is still extremely low.

2. My titles and descriptions probably aren't good enough.

Some of them are too generic and probably don't explain the product or target the right buyer properly.

I’ve tried to improve them, but I’m not confident that I’m actually doing it correctly.

3. My product photos could be much better.

Some of my mockups/photos were generated or improved with AI because I wanted the products to look more attractive.

The actual designs are mine, but I realize that the presentation might still look too generic or “POD-ish.”

4. My prices are probably too high.

This is one of the biggest problems I don't know how to solve.

I use POD, so I don't print or ship the products myself. The production and shipping costs take a significant part of the selling price.

I’ve already tried keeping my prices as low as I realistically can.

On some products, after Etsy fees, production costs, etc., I’m left with roughly €5 profit per sale.

I know buyers can find cheaper T-shirts and hoodies elsewhere, but if I lower the price much further, there is basically no business left for me.

So if anyone has experience with POD pricing on Etsy, I’d especially appreciate some advice here.

5. The designs themselves may be another problem.

I create all of my automotive designs myself in Adobe Illustrator.

I’m not using premade graphics and simply putting them on shirts. I actually draw and build the designs myself.

But I’m also realistic enough to know that “I made it myself” doesn’t automatically mean people want to buy it.

Maybe the designs aren't commercially strong enough. Maybe I'm targeting too small of a niche. Maybe the style is wrong. Maybe the products simply don't stand out enough.

And honestly, I don't know which one it is.

What I’m hoping to get from this post

I’m not looking for compliments.

If you look at the shop and think:

• the designs are weak
• the prices are wrong
• the mockups look bad
• the SEO is terrible
• the titles are confusing
• the products aren't differentiated enough
• the niche is too small
• the shop looks untrustworthy
• or I'm simply doing something fundamentally wrong

please tell me.

I would genuinely rather hear that than “looks good, keep going.”

I've already spent about 2.5 years trying to figure this out, and at this point I feel like I'm too close to my own work to see the obvious problems anymore.

So if you have Etsy/POD experience, what would you change first if this were your shop?

And if you sell POD yourself, I'd especially like to know how you handle pricing when production costs make it difficult to compete with cheaper sellers.

Thanks to anyone willing to take the time to actually look through the shop and give honest feedback.